Patrick Mahomes shares how Fernando Mendoza’s rookie year reminds him of debut Chiefs season

Patrick Mahomes discussed his thoughts on Fernando Mendoza’s place within the Las Vegas Raiders’ hierarchy and compared it to his own first season with the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs beat the Raiders 30-27 to extend their winning start, now sitting 4-0 at the start of the 2026 season.

Once again, Fernando Mendoza watched the game from the sidelines, as the Raiders trusted Kirk Cousins to play over him as QB1.

Patrick Mahomes suggests Fernando Mendoza in a similar position as him as backup QB

Speaking to reporters after the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Las Vegas Raiders, Patrick Mahomes responded to a question about Fernando Mendoza learning from Kirk Cousins.

Mahomes suggested that the experience will be good for Mendoza, claiming that he can get the right education from Cousins, just like he had under Alex Smith when he first joined the Chiefs.

“It’s going to do a lot of great things for him. Kirk is a true pro,” Mahomes told reporters after the game. “A quarterback that knows how to run the room, the team, and everything the right way.

“He’s going to do it the right way. We saw that today. He’s coming off an injury too, he had a bad injury late in his career. For him to get back to who he was before that, he started the season off great.

“It’ll be great for Fernando to learn and just take in, because you don’t know until you’re in the NFL. Hopefully, not too much. It went really well for me and Alex. Hopefully maybe not that much (for Fernando) unless I’m gone.”

Much like Mendoza, Mahomes entered the NFL as a high-level prospect, going 10th overall in the 2017 NFL Draft after three strong years at Texas Tech.

However, the Chiefs didn’t immediately name him as their starting quarterback, with Alex Smith being trusted as QB1 and Mahomes playing backup.

Mahomes only played one game in his rookie season, after the Chiefs had secured the fourth seed in the AFC. His performance in that game was strong, as he led the Chiefs to a 27-24 win against the Denver Broncos.

The following season, the Chiefs traded Smith and named Mahomes their starting quarterback going forward, and he delivered an incredible season, winning MVP in his first full year with the team.

Perhaps this is the strategy the Raiders are taking with Mendoza, given how successful it was for Mahomes and the Chiefs.

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